Update: City of Modesto employee killed in accident on Finch Road near airport
Updated story ==> Modesto city employee killed in crash identified
Original story
The California Highway Patrol is investigating an accident involving a city of Modesto garbage truck that resulted in the death of a city worker.
The accident was reported just after 2 p.m. Monday in the 3600 block of Finch Road. The location is south of Yosemite Boulevard off South McClure Road between Modesto and Empire.
The three-axle truck was wedged between a fence and a tree on the side of the road.
CHP officer Tom Olsen confirmed a city employee died, and said the truck belonged to the forestry division. The man has been tentatively identified as a 52-year-old Modesto resident. His name has not been released.
Modesto spokesman Thomas Reeves emailed a statement in which he said the city had “lost a member of its work family to a tragic single-vehicle accident this afternoon. We are grieving alongside the employee’s family, a loss which is especially agonizing at this time of year.”
The Gilton Resource Recovery transfer station is near the site of the fatal accident. City forestry crews use the trucks to drop off waste from their work. A voicemail The Bee left with a transfer station supervisor was not returned late Monday afternoon.
Rain had been falling steadily in the area and the road was wet. It is not yet clear if road conditions contributed to the accident.
It is the second on-the-job death of a city of Modesto worker in 20 months.
In April 2018, electrician assistant Tyrone Hairston was electrocuted when he was installing a streetlight pole with a mast arm that made contact with a high-voltage power line at Floyd and Roselle avenues.
Modesto Bee reporter Kevin Valine contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 2, 2019 at 3:05 PM.
